The Apple fall music event came and went and with it, the IOS platform, through the freshly minted iTunes 10, introduced a “magical” social component called Ping. The conference room was filled with tech bloggers and journalist but from all the cheering and clapping during several occasions by the audience as Mr. Jobs introduced yet another new feature or device to the platform, one had to wonder what kind of objectivity they would have when time came to write articles about the event. Setting that aside, the introduction of Ping validated Microsoft’s effort with the social aspects of the Zune ecosystem and shows that Apple is paying attention and perhaps a little worried of what WP7 will bring to Zune as a whole.

On November 13, 2006, Microsoft unveiled the Zune with the tagline, “Welcome to the Social”

As Microsoft launches Zune this week, the goal is not to manufacture another digital music player but to create a shared, social experience that will be shaped by the collective imagination of consumers and will inspire discovery of new music and artists.

When you read articles about the Ping service, you will be hard pressed to find one (although cnet does in this article) that mentions that the “un-innovative” Microsoft had a social music feature almost 4 years ago! After the initial fanfare about Apple’s social aspirations, most people are finding out and writing that it is basically a dud as it now stands and needs a huge upgrade for it to be of any relevance at all in the future. That Microsoft’s press release for the Zune four years back went on to say this

Zune features wireless technology that enables friends to spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures among their Zune devices. The full tracks of these songs can be listened to up to three times over three days, and, if the recipient enjoys the song she hears and wishes to buy it, she can flag it on her device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace, which features over 2 million songs. A consumer has the choice between downloading individual songs and "Zune Pass" subscription plans. This is especially attractive for the MySpace generation, who frequently use the power of community to share common interests and promote social networking.

Very prescient words in the light of last week’s developments I must say! This however does not mean that the Zune team needs to seat on its laurels. In fact, it should act as a catalyst and elicit a sense of urgency for them to build and improve on the already great foundation with competition now nipping at their heels. I recently proposed a deeper integration with Facebook  together with ability to purchase tickets and event notifications. However, I would like to delve deeper into music discovery and local bands/artists promotion for this post.

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